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Viking Bikers from Hell
"Viking Bikers From Hell" is the twenty-second episode of Miami Vice's third season. The episode premiered on April 3, 1987 and repeated on July 15, 1988. Summary A motorcycle gang seeks revenge for a drug dealing friend's death by killing his customers, including Sonny Burnett. Plot A former bike gang member named Reb Gustafson (Reb Brown) gets out of jail and joins his old gang, consisting of Lascoe (John Matuszak), Toad (Sonny Landham), and a new member named Charlie, who has some information about customers of their other member, Edward "The Wire" Constantine. "The Wire" has died recently and his funeral is the following day. They bring Reb's gun, with which he shoots Charlie down rather than ride on the back of his bike. At The Wire's funeral, the Vice squad is taking pics of the attendees, as it was Crockett who took out The Wire when his cover was blown. Unbeknownst to them, the bike gang is also taking pics at the funeral. The squad reviews the pics they took, singling out two people, including a woman who no one recognizes. Reb watches a taped last will & testament from The Wire, who leaves everything to his sister Victoria Elizabeth (Elan Oberon); he requests that Reb take care of her and ensure she gets everything. Crockett & Tubbs go see the limo service used in the funeral and find the limo was rented to Victoria. Reb goes to see Victoria, who wants nothing to do with him, let alone her brother's stuff. The gang goes to see a man named Salazar to get his Krugerrands; he gives them up but is drowned in a pool by Reb, who then kills another person with his gun. At their hideout, Reb lets them in on something he learned in prison, about Nietzsche's words on The Will To Power and Eternal Life, and his "mission" is almost done. Crockett & Tubbs go to see Victoria, who again insists she never knew her brother's business and knows nothing about it, then the bikers go to see Izzy (who is singing and talking to a group of uninterested senior citizens) and Reb shows him some pics and Izzy gives him names, including Crockett & Tubbs, who are visiting a hotel room under a man named Pena (the doorman said he heard screaming coming from there) and they find him dead, shot and wrapped in a sheet. At OCB, they determine that The Wire used the bike gang (called the Violators) for security, led by Jack Cragun (Kim Coates), who Crockett goes to see at a biker bar and roughs him up until he reveals Reb is going to kill eight people who were The Wire's customers for the past two weeks (including Salazar and Pena). The Violators set up at a park across from a dealer named Bernier's party (after chasing off a couple having lunch by dumping food on the woman's head) and shoot him dead from long range, his body falling into his birthday cake. There are three remaining on Reb's list, including Crockett, so he & Tubbs go to see Reb's prison psychiatrist, who says he is a true psychopath, having formed a strong bond with The Wire and vowing to avenge his death. Reb interrupts his friends' cavorting with girls to ride that night. Switek is monitoring Victoria at her place and she leaves alone. Tubbs is at a dealer named Zifarelli's place when the gang comes out, having rigged the house to blow up. Tubbs orders them to freeze and puts two shots into Reb, who shrugs them off and grazes Tubbs' head with a bullet. Tubbs survives but is suffering from a concussion, saying he can't kill Reb while drifting in and out of consciousness. Castillo wants to bring Crockett off the streets, but Crockett refuses, wanting to take Reb out in the open. Reb takes The Wire's possessions to Victoria, who doesn't want them, but he leaves them anyway and she looks over them. Switek sees Reb leaving Victoria's place and follows him back to the bikers' hangout, then calls Trudy to alert the squad as to its' location, and Gina reluctantly informs Crockett, despite Castillo's insistence Crockett not go to their hideout. Metro-Dade SRT shows up and begins assaulting the hideout; in a massive shootout both Toad & Lascoe are killed, along with several SRT officers, but Reb tears out on a motorcycle, and Crockett pursues him into a junkyard. A cat & mouse game ensues, with Reb & Crockett exchanging fire until they get close enough for a hand-to-hand fight; Reb chokes Crockett until he pulls out his ankle gun and puts two slugs into Reb, who in an adrenaline rush comes at Crockett and drives them both over the side of a ship into the water. Crockett strikes his head on the side but survives, while Reb dies. Crockett goes to see Tubbs in the hospital and they talk about life on the street and Victoria's leaving town for good. Cast *Don Johnson as Metro-Dade Detective James "Sonny" Crockett *Philip Michael Thomas as Metro-Dade Detective Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs *Saundra Santiago as Metro-Dade Detective Gina Calabrese *Michael Talbott as Metro-Dade Detective Stan Switek *Olivia Brown as Metro-Dade Detective Trudy Joplin *Edward James Olmos as Metro-Dade Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo Guest Stars *John Matuszak as Lascoe *Reb Brown as Reb Gustafson *Martin Ferrero as Izzy Moreno *Elan Oberon as Victoria Constandine *Kim Coates as Jack Cragun *Sonny Landham as Toad Co-Starring *Pirty Jackson as Bernier *Gustavo Rojas as Salazar Notes * Episode writer John Milius used Marlon Brando's character from Apocalypse Now, Col. Walter Kurtz, as his pseudonym in the credits. * Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophies interprets tragedy as an affirmation of life, and that the universe will continue to recur ad infinitum. * Since Zito's death, Switek has taken to reading magic trick books during his stakeouts, having done so in almost every episode since including this one. * Jan Hammer's "Rain" music (heard in "Milk Run") was used extensively here. * The beach from where Reb shoots one of the dealers also appeared in "When Irish Eyes Are Crying," where Berrigan and Carroon talked and viewed the Concorde. * One of the bikes featured in this episode is a Kawasaki GPZ. It would later be redesigned and renamed the Ninja. Tom Cruise drove one in "Top Gun." * The episode was pulled from Hulu.com in April, 2010, for unknown reasons, but the site had numerous complaints that the episode only ran about 12 of its alloted 48 minutes when watching it. * The hotel Victoria pulls in front of, the Breakwater, was, like the other Art Deco hotels in South Beach, renovated after Miami Vice ''went off the air, and is now a luxury hotel. Production Notes *Filming: February 18, 1987 - February 26, 1987 *Production Code: 62032 *Production Order: 66 Filming Locations *St. Patrick's Church, 3716 Garden Ave, Miami Beach (Funeral of "The Wire") *Breakwater Hotel 940 Ocean Drive-Miami Beach (Victoria's apartment) *Atlantis Building 2025 Brickell Avenue (Salazar pool scenes) *Crandon Causeway shortly after Rickenbacker Causeway Bridge, Key Biscayne (Reb shoots Bernier into cake) *Virginia Key near Jimbo's (Biker Bar where Crockett confronts Cragun) *NW N River Drive/NW 34th Str, Miami (Crockett/Reb chase and fight) Music *"Valhalla" by Chris Barr (Opening sequence with Reb and the bike gang) *"Who Do You Love" by George Thorogood and The Destroyers (at biker bar) *"Heaven" by Simply Red (at Bernier's party) *"Tightrope Walk" by The Damned (shootout at bikers' hangout) Quotes *"The strong ''always eat well!" -- Reb *"Now we're going to play Name The Wacko!" -- Crockett to Jack Cragun *"Parole violation will give you plenty of time to get rid of that postnasal drip!" -- Tubbs to TJ the limo renter *"He (Reb) makes Charles Manson look like Mr. Rogers!" -- Prison Doctor to Crockett & Tubbs Category:Miami Vice Season 3 Episodes